Duncan Asks That Shasta Groene Not be Forced to Testify

Associated Press

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By
Kim Bartlett

Add defendant Joseph Edward Duncan to the list of people who don't want 9-year-old Shasta Groene to testify at Duncan's trial for allegedly killing three members of the girl's family.

Public defender John Adams says Duncan also wants to spare Shasta the ordeal of testifying against her alleged abductor.

Adams tells The Spokesman-Review newspaper that Duncan, “…doesn't want Shasta to spend the next 10 to 20 years in courtrooms, watching the trial and appellate trial and being 20-years-old and having to come back to court again.''

Steve Groene, the girl's father, recently asked Kootenai County prosecutors to drop the death penalty option as a way of getting a plea bargain from Duncan that would avoid a lengthy trial and appeals process.